Following Outrage on Social Media, Moroccan Top Baccalaureate Student Gets Scholarship

Rabat – Following outrage on social media, Imane Touil, who received the highest score in the Moroccan 2017 baccalaureate exam, has finally managed to get a scholarship to study medicine at Casablanca’s Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences (UM6SS).

In the past few days, several media outlets claimed that the university rejected Touil’s scholarship request, leading to anger among social networks users. Many expressed their disappointment at the news, blaming the government for not helping out Touil despite having scored the highest grade in this year’s baccalaureate exams.

However, Majdouline Saha, communication director at the university told Morocco World News (MWN) that Touil had been granted the scholarship this morning.
“The student will be received at the university tomorrow morning in order to finish her enrollment procedure,” assured Saha.

Saha added that “the student who will get the highest score in Morocco’s baccalaureate exams will be automatically granted a scholarship, starting from this year in accordance with the decision taken by the university presidents.”

When MWN called the student to confirm the news, Touil said that the institute had contacted her and invited her to the university in order to continue her enrollment procedure.

A Shocking Absence

Earlier today, Touil expressed her total shock to MWN that she could not find her name on the scholarship list.

The 17-year old girl, a student of physical sciences in high school, had scored an average of 19.31 out of 20 on the baccalaureate.

“I could not believe that I was not among the students who got scholarships from the university,” she said. “I wonder why the request was declined.”

Asked if she had alternative options for university, Touil said that she had applied to the Casablanca’s public University of Medicine, and that she had passed the admission test there too.

Dreaming of Medicine

In June, the student told the media that her childhood dream had been to become a doctor. To her, medicine is a noble mission in the service of human kind. Touil said her second favored major was engineering, which she called “the key to development.”

The student said she had not excluded the possibility of studying abroad, as her excellent grade will likely allow her to obtain a scholarship from foreign universities.

Touil comes from a middle-income family, and her father could not afford to pay the university fees as he does not have a fixed-monthly income

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